VISUALIZATION OF A FLUORINATED PHARMACEUTICAL FORMULATION IN THE ANESTHETIZED RAT USING F-19-NMR AND H-1-NMR IMAGING

The potential applicability of F-19-NMR imaging in observing a fluorinated pharmaceutical in vivo using the rat as a model has been assessed. F-19-NMR imaging was used in parallel with (H-1)-NMR imaging to observe and locate a solid dosage form in vivo. In vitro images of a tube phantom containing the fluorinated derivative were acquired initially in order to determine optimal acquisition parameters. Subsequently, in vivo F-19 images of the solid dosage form in the gastrointestinal tract of anaesthetised (fasted and nonfasted) rats were obtained and compared. Corresponding H-1 images were acquired at the mid-abdomen level of the rat. All images were acquired at a field strength of 4.7 T using a 16-segment copper birdcage resonator as the imaging probe. The F-19 images were obtained at the resonant frequency of 188.5 MHz and the proton images at the resonant frequency of 200.3 MHz using a spin-echo pulse sequence. Anatomical proton images showing gross structure of the gastrointestinal tract were acquired in as little as 2 min. Fluorine images were observed in approx. 3 min with a signal-to-noise (SNR) ratio of 7.5 per pixel.